Asus Eee901 IMPRESSIVE BATTERY LIFE AND SMALL FORM
Andy Taylor
While I was a little amazed at news this week that the Asus Eee would be available at Toy's "R" Us, a first feel of the Subnotebook may lead you to believe this Intel Atom based portable computer is a toy. Once you power the unit up and begin using it, you'll find it's far from being considered to be - "Just a Toy. "
The trend in the cell phone industry has been to give users more functionality to their devices as well as stretching the battery life for the user. The benefit of the notebook or laptop computer has always been more processing power and the ability to store large photos, documents and easily connect to the office or home system to share files and use printers and other network devices.
Over the years we have seen laptops available that were smaller in size however we also saw the smaller systems selling for prices that were normally three to four times the amount of a basic notebook. Asus has developed a sub notebook or as some companies call it, a Netbook. The Asus Eee901 combines the processing power of the Intel Atom N270 processor and small form factor to deliver a portable computer which sports a tremendous battery life of around 6 to 8 hours depending on your use.
To keep the size and power requirements down, The Asus Eee901 also features two Solid State Drives, SSD, which are flash based memory with no moving parts. In the Eee901 we tested, the drive capacity was 12GB and featured the Windows XP Home Edition operating system. The unit can be purchased with Linux if so desired.
The Eee is impressive and is the step between a PDA based cell phone and a full size laptop computer. For the traveler that would like to be able to create documents on the run or easily check email, the Eee 901 will satisfy just about any user. The size of the device will allow easy storage in a briefcase or even a computer case with lots of room available.
While we have enjoyed looking at the Eee901 we have experienced what others found to be slight disadvantage to using a smaller Netbook device, the keyboard. The keys are smaller and thus you have to adapt your typing so you don’t hit two keys at once! Screen size at 8.9” is also smaller then a notebook yet certainly adequate for viewing documents, photos and email with a screen resolution of 1024 x 600.
The Asus Eee901 does not include a CD or DVD Reader or writer however with most similar devices, many programs and features are found online. An external device could be used if need.
An Integrated 1.3mp webcam is mounted in the top lid which allows for easy face to face conversations with Skype or any of the other services which support video chat.
Other features include 3 USB 2.0 ports, 802.11 b/g and n connectivity, an Ethernet port and Bluetooth for synchronizing your phone or connecting to Bluetooth devices. The audio from the internal speakers located at the bottom of the front of the Eee901 sounded good however for privacy, a microphone in and headphone jack are available on the device.
The Eee901 from Asus carries a suggested retail price of $499 for both operating system flavors which now gives consumers as well as small businesses the opportunity to own a small form factor system without breaking the budget and providing long battery life. For those that are looking for a larger size screen and more storage, a 10-inch Linux machine with a 40GB SSD is available for $599 while the XP Model has a price of $479. Great Size, Great battery life and feature filled, the Asus Eee systems are available at most electronics retailers and online.
For more information on the Asus Eee901,
take a look at the website at http://www.asus.com
Over the years we have seen laptops available that were smaller in size however we also saw the smaller systems selling for prices that were normally three to four times the amount of a basic notebook. Asus has developed a sub notebook or as some companies call it, a Netbook. The Asus Eee901 combines the processing power of the Intel Atom N270 processor and small form factor to deliver a portable computer which sports a tremendous battery life of around 6 to 8 hours depending on your use. 
Other features include 3 USB 2.0 ports, 802.11 b/g and n connectivity, an Ethernet port and Bluetooth for synchronizing your phone or connecting to Bluetooth devices. The audio from the internal speakers located at the bottom of the front of the Eee901 sounded good however for privacy, a microphone in and headphone jack are available on the device.